A Good Life Part 3
by BuckyBarnesFangirl
Summary: Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and their best friend Grace Williams live life together in the years before WWII. I own only the character of Grace Williams. All other credit goes to Marvel.


We finished high school and I attended Brooklyn College while Steve and Bucky went to Auburndale Art School, both in Brooklyn so we hung out as much as we could. Soon after the school year started, Steve's mom, Sarah, died. Bucky and I both tried to get Steve to come live with us at the Barnes' spacious apartment, but Steve always refused, insisting he could take care of himself.

Steve had always been the kind of person to bottle up his grief and push his friends away during times of need. Every night, Bucky and I talked until the wee hours of the morning, trying to figure out how to get through to him. We never really did; in all our plotting, we ended up giving Steve more space than we should have. When we realized that we left him alone in his hour of need, we were both very upset with ourselves. However, Steve assured us later that space it was what he needed at that time. Despite the devastation of losing his mother, Steve was resilient and bounced back.

Our college years were full of fun. Some of us (just Bucky) started dating and, of course, it was the biggest tease-fest ever.

Bucky started dating this girl named Becky Cooper in his sophomore year of college. Steve and I shamelessly teased Bucky and acted weird on purpose when she was around. In fact, I was the reason they broke up (you're welcome). But...she was an awful girlfriend and even Bucky admitted he was glad to be rid of her. Here's the story.

Since Steve and I were practically Bucky's siblings, Bucky hated it when we met his girlfriends. For this reason (and for an incident that occurred with his first girlfriend involving paint-filled balloons), he was hesitant to let us meet his second girlfriend, Becky Cooper. But after a lot of persuading (and blackmailing), Bucky finally agreed to bring her by the Barnes' house. This was during the summer, so I was staying at the Barnes' and Steve was nearby. When the two of them knocked on the door, I answered. I was babysitting Mary and Tyler because Mrs Barnes was running Jacob and Sarah to a school meeting. I opened the door and greeted them warmly, hugging Bucky and shaking Becky's hand. The moment I laid a hand on "her" man, I could tell Becky was pissed. She didn't know that I was practically Bucky's little sister. Anyway, after she briefly met Steve, Becky pulled Bucky (and another thing: their names sound terrible together) into a different room to have a "chat". And hoo boy...when she said "chat", she really meant "scream fest". Steve, the kids, and I got an earful of the conversation. Becky screamed at poor Buck for an hour, but they were both yelling so loud that we couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Finally, Becky stormed out of the house, her face as red as a tomato, tears streaming. When Bucky came out, Steve and I instinctually recoiled, expecting him to be cranky and upset. But it was quite the opposite! His face was a little flushed, but other than that, he looked happy.

"Finally got rid of her," He said triumphantly. Bucky explained that he had been trying to drop hints to Becky about breaking up for a few weeks now. Bucky was a nice guy, too nice, in fact. He never had the heart to tell girls the truth that he wasn't interested. He was way too soft on them. I had very little sympathy for him. In my opinion, it was all Bucky's fault for being too nice.

He told us some of what Becky had said. "She thought I was cheating on her," Bucky said. "No, but not just that. She thought I was cheating on her with…" His eyes flicked towards me. "Grace."

"Grace? ME Grace?!" I asked, disgusted and repulsed by the thought. "That's gross." Surprisingly, when I said this, Bucky looked a bit put off.

"What do you mean 'that's gross'? Don't you like me?" The last sentence was meant to be a joke, but I could still sense the small bit of offendedness in his voice. I tried to correct my error.

"You know I like you, Buck! But...you're one of my best friends and my brother...and the thought of…" I shuddered involuntarily, which probably didn't help the moment. "No. Just...no."

Silence ensued. It was quite awkward. Steve broke it up by making a joke.

"And that, folks, is what the friend zone is." We laughed.

Bucky shrugged and said, "I generally don't like it when a pretty girl tells me that I'm gross." Steve made a telescope with his hands and looked around.

"I don't see any pretty girls here." Bucky shoved Steve for being mean, but I fell over laughing. Soon, they joined in.


End file.
